mlabbe

I figured that there is never too much info on a resort nor too many pictures! Hopefully this helps someone in their resort decision. Our stay was from May 11 to May 14 2010. ++++++++++++++++++ We decided to book some time for ourselves before our wedding “week†with our guests, and so we first stayed at the Dream Villamagna in Nuevo Vallarta before moving to Playa Fiesta (in Puerto Vallarta). Technically this was our honeymoon from our civil ceremony, or pre-honeymoon, depending on how you want to look at it! The reviews for this hotel (eg., on Trip Advisor) are pretty accurate – it is still a new resort and so there isn’t a ton of vegetation yet. There is a lot of concrete, but it is very clean. The pools are big, but we never used them! I did dip my feet in them and the temperature was nice and warm. The beach is long, so it’s perfect for long walks. Again I didn’t go in the ocean there but I’ve been to another resort on this beach and it’s quite nice. There are vendors on the beach. While we were there we saw 2 weddings – one really small one and 1 bigger one. The wedding site is right by the beach and it was extremely windy for wedding #2. Wedding #1 had fireworks and they were quite lovely! Both weddings were over quite early. The site might need a little TLC to make it feel your own though, if you're not the one to like basic packages. The rooms at the resort are fantastic; it’s really the best part of the hotel. We had a junior suite with all of the upgrades (Preferred Club), as this was technically our honeymoon (our legal wedding was in February). The hotel did pay attention to the note that I had added to our reservation and our room was decorated with a congrats banner, flowers, and we had sparkly on ice and chocolate-covered strawberries in the room. We spent a lot of time in the room enjoying the balcony, the hot tub and the room service. The shower is fantastic, lots of pressure. The food at the resort also fit the reviews – it was hit and miss and just not as good as the food at the Dreams in Puerto Vallarta. The sushi bar had some good sushi and the Italian restaurant had good food (well, what I ordered was good and what DH ordered wasn’t). I recommend the creamy mushroom pasta and the lamb at the Italian restaurant. The Mexican restaurant was ok, but the staff was super nice and made churros just for us since I mentioned that I love them. They gave us a whole basket full, there must have been two dozen of them! There was construction at the hotel and one of the restaurant and bar was closed. The drinks very very good throughout, the quesadillas and guacamole in the room service was very nice as well. The breakfast buffet was good. One thing that we didn’t like was that with our booking, we had $200 of resort credit, which they give you as though it was money. Turns out though that we couldn’t use any of it, because there is a maximum to how much you can use in one given place. For example, DH wanted a massage (which was crazy expensive, over $100) and he could only apply $40 towards it. It seemed like a ploy to get people to spend more! Overall, the resort is nice but it felt more like a hotel part of a condo complex. It was quiet and there were hardly any guests (which is nice), but it didn't feel special. Would I stay there again? Probably not. Notes: - This is also where I had my makeup and hair trial for Playa Fiesta. We had arranged in advance with the hotel that two people were coming to our room for a few hours - they said that it was no problem. On the day of though, they gave us a hard time and asked and kept the visitor's photo ID. - We did a day trip to Sayulita from the Dreams. It’s not easy to get there by bus, as the hotel isn’t connected to the main road and all of the buses head towards town (unlike what the bellboy at the Dreams said). We took a taxi there for 200 pesos, but I think that we got lucky with that price. To get back we took the bus to the mall and took a cab from there (again, there are no buses that go into the hotel area, unless you go back into town). - There are amazing sunsets!!! - Watch for pods of dolphins that swim by every morning.

Di, Karen, I love your pictures!!! Congrats on the big day!

Great review, thank you for sharing!!! I'm glad that everything worked out in the end.

Congrats on the big day Natalie and welcome! Looking forward to seeing photos!

You can wear whatever you want! It's your day. These are gorgeous!

HI Jerry, congrats! Welcome to the forum. You will find tons of info & help on here! I think that it's awesome that you are helping out, she's a lucky lady!

We did paper STD and electronic evites. Looking back, what was I thinking doing paper STD The evite was so easy, and so quick! Not a soul complained about not having a paper invite and we received a few comments from those who thought that the evite idea was awesome (as it was "green"). We used pingg.com for the RSVP - it's free and easy. You can use your own image (free for that too). We also sent a PDF invite alongside the RSVP URL. Let me know if you have questions!

Congrats and welcome Nikita! I agree, once you have a budget and estimates group size / time of year to travel in, it will be easier for you to start narrowing down options. Best of luck!

Hi Nichola! Welcome to the forum and congrats! You will find tons of info & help on here. I recommend checking the Cabo folder to get started!

Welcome to the site Judy! You'll find tons of help on here.

This post is such a great idea! There is just so much stuff on Etsy, it easy to miss out on something amazing! I posted on our blog the Etsy sellers we used and the items we bought - you can see it here: Magalie + Travis - Etsy Finds.

That's really pretty! I like that it's not a real tent. It gives it such a great feel of space - it looks warm and intimate!

Oh my! Best of luck with this!

I hope that things are better now. Sometimes talking really helps. I was in a very similar situation before our civil ceremony. DH had the SADS really bad and was quite depressed, so it didn't make anything easy. Everything was a fight, he was blowing everything out of proportion and was quite mean. I sat him down and I told him how I felt. Once he realized what he had been doing to me, things got better. But talking to him, I figured out that a lot of the anger and other issues was just coming from him being scared. Getting married is a big deal and he was scared, so he was trying to find a way out *without* really wanting out, if that makes sense? I can't really explain it, but while he wanted to marry me he just didn't know if he could ever give me everything I deserved and felt that he wasn't good enough to be with me. I reassured him. I even wrote the entire civil ceremony text to say things like I was accepting him for who he is. We've been through really tough patches but in the ends it works out. It's not always going to be easy. But you two have managed thus far, you can make it through this! Just be patient and supportive and open with your feelings. Good luck!

Congrats! You two look so happy!!!

Most pro photographers will also go on "scouting" missions before the shoot, so they can get familiar with the area and find great spots for pictures. You can ask your photog if they plan on doing this - if yes, then you don't even have to worry about trying to figure it out yourself!

Great job!

Just do an online search for free fonts. There are tons of sites out there! Fonts that are images are called dingbats. You should have no trouble find a few options!

Great photos!!! I love the one on Nora's blog even more. The one of you two kissing in the sand is so sweet!

Thank you everyone! Amber really did a great job capturing everything.

You're welcome ladies! I love the photos so much. And PF is such a dream! We got to do a few things that they hadn't done before, I think it's nice to have something a little different. Vanessa, you will not regret your decision of going with PF! Kate, I haven't written my review yet... I'm working on it slowly. It's going to be ridiculously long!

Hi everyone!!! Our wedding day photos were blogged by our photographer today! I am super excited as they are incredibly beautiful. Now I just have to wait for the day after shots! You can see the photos here Magalie + Travis | Puerto Vallarta Wedding - it's really worth it!!! I wanted to take the opportunity to say a little bit more about my photographer, Amber Hughes. We decided to fly her in to our wedding in Puerto Vallarta. Amber is located in Vancouver, BC, and this was her first destination wedding. Because of this, we got a discount as we were helping to built her amazing portfolio. She also shot our civil ceremony at home, and her pictures were stunning for that as well. She is professional, friendly, has a quick turn-around and replies to emails very promptly. She was super fun to work with and everyone commented on how un-obstructive she was when shooting. She brought along as a 2nd shooter Michael Wachniak - he is a BDWF member. He is silly and you never know what he'll say or do next, but this means that he can make anyone smile and feel super comfortable. He is also super professional at the same time. Together, they worked as an amazing team and there never was a boring moment. The two of them worked really hard and a lot more than what was in our contract. I was supposed to get 1 or 2h of coverage for the karaoke night, 8h of coverage for the wedding day and 2h of coverage for the day-after / TTD shoot. Well, they shot like crazy on every one of the 4 days of our stay at Playa Fiesta. They covered Karaoke in details, the rehearsal walk-through, the rehearsal dinner and cigar extravaganza, the wedding day, took additional shots the day after of the group, and the TTD shot went over by 2.5 hours. They never complained, I never asked. They love what they do. The photos speak for themselves. I 120% recommend Amber and Michael as photographers, at home in Vancouver or at a destination. They are amazing. I am super happy that I got to spend time with them, dance with them, smoke cigars and do tequila shots with them. I'm glad that they are in our group photo! If you're looking for a photographer, drop her a line!

Hi everyone! Amber posted our pictures from the wedding - day after shoot to follow. I love them so much!!!!!!!!! Magalie + Travis | Puerto Vallarta Wedding

Quote: Originally Posted by DWbridetobe teshy! Thanks. I'm American and my FI is Canadian. We're going to be settling here in the Toronto area, and I'm so confused as to where to even begin! DH is American and I'm Canadian. He does have his Permanent Residence card though. We had no issues at customs in the US and in Canada coming back, they didn't ask any questions about the wedding. If he doesn't have his card, going through customs won't give you the option to get his paperwork started - you'll need to get on the government's website and download all of the paperwork. It took us 9 months after applying for his paper to come through, so it takes quite a long time! Best of luck, let me know if you have questions!

What kind of immigration issues are you concerned / wondering about?